Hype of the Third Kind

Halo 3…. How much hype? I haven’t played it yet but if Halo 1 and 2 are anything to go by it won’t deserve (in my opinion) all these ten out of tens it keeps getting, but I’ll have to try it and see.

Halo Lee… How much hype? Very little, but for me this post represents one of the biggest milestones in my life and puts the release of Halo 3 well and truly in perspective. This is the first blog I have ever written using my own eyes! I had laser eye surgery on Friday! One of the (hopefully) short term effects of which is that any bright lights have a halo around them! I couldn’t help but notice the halos I saw around the words in the HALO 3 review I was reading and marvel at the irony!

Oh how things move on, especially in the world of e-sports, all of a sudden we have CGS and Xleague TV vying for our e-sports exercise. It’s about bloody time, that’s what I say.

On the gaming front I have managed to complete Prince of Persia Sands of Time. I really wanted to get back into a bit of console gaming and chose this for my next conquest. It wasn’t what I was expecting, it was more of a platformer than a melee fighter and I think it failed a little at both. It’s not a bad game but the platforming wasn’t in the same league as a Mario game. The graphics and cinematics were pretty decent though.

Once done I moved on to a little game called God of War. It had been sat on my shelf for a while and I thought I’d give it a go. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the gaming perfection that opened up in front of me. From beginning to end I was gripped. It surely redefines the way story is weaved into a game. Utterly incredible.

I have to say thought that the two games were very short, about 12 or so hours for GOW and about 20 or so for POP. I’ve got so used to playing 3+ hour long sessions of SupCom and COD 2 that I was a bit suprised when they both finished!

I also got Oendan 2. I got through the early levels extremely quickly, virtually no challenge at all but I’m trying to “S” the last level so it’s taking a while longer. It’s pretty easy to get the level complete but getting the S is far more difficult. I think these games only show their true colours on the last level as that’s when the dance truly fits with the music.

Omega-Sektor in Birmingham just opened up and being as I travel there a couple of times a month I joined. It’s pretty awesome with hundreds of PCs available for you to play. The trouble is though that once you’ve sat down it feels just like being at home! It’s far better than sitting in a hotel room all night though, I can tell you that much and at £3 per hour it’s a bargain. They have just about every game you can think of available and you can do all your web stuff too.

I have to say that I’m not too impressed with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. I don’t know why but it just doesn’t click with me; maybe I just need to give it a bit more time, which is hard when there are so many games out. I bought World in Conflict yesterday, again I’m not too impressed. I find it all a bit limited and much prefer the “economy” building in most games of the genre. I mainly bought it to play online with my mate Les, so hopefully it will be better when we get into it.

My web site is looking a bit forlorn. I went in to redesigning it with a lot of gusto, but over the summer I have spent so many weekends away that I just haven’t had chance to carry on with it. This weekend was supposed to be when I started again but then I went and got my eyes lasered! So maybe the coming weekend is my chance.

My mate Wallsy has bought Espgaluda 2 on PCB and hooked it up to his 37″ plasma. He’s had a lovely new son so I haven’t had chance to go on it yet! My mate’s house is probably the only place in England I can play it at, and the last two times I have been I haven’t been able to as his proper little baby demanded our attention! Next time…

I never got any good at Gears of War and have all but given up playing on the Xbox 360 on account of all the top PC games that have come out. I’m sure that will change the second I download Jeff Minter’s new offering!

Just as I’m getting into PGR3 guess what happens? PGR4 gets released… Will I ever complete one of these games before the next one is released?

And as if all that gaming wasn’t enough a new Guild Wars was released recently and I haven’t finished Nightfall yet. There’s just too much gaming goodness going around at the minute for my liking and it’s about time it slowed down a little to give us all a chance to take a breath. I propose a six month halt to all games development!

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Published by Leeram

I've played games for 40 years, since I was 6. I love all types of game, except football games, I detest them, except Striker 2, which was fantastic.
I love games old and new, mainly playing PC but I have a Wii U and some original arcade machines.
In the past I have had every console you can imagine and used to have a mini museum, but I eventually played all the games I wanted to play so I sold all my systems and bought the arcade games, apart from my PC Engine obviously, I mean, no-one would ever get rid of a PC Engine. And my Jaguar, because you can never get bored of Tempest 2000 {long live the Minter-man}.
I'm not a professional writer but I hope you enjoy my blog. Sorry for the swearing, I can't help it.
View all posts by Leeram